APODAL PISHES OP AMERICA AND EUROPE. 
585 
Family I.— MUR/ENIDyE. 
(Morays.) 
The Murcenidce represent the most degenerate, type of eels so far as 
the skeleton is concerned, and they are doubtless the farthest removed 
from the more typical fishes from which the eels have descended. The 
essential characters of the family are thus stated by Dr. Gill : 
Colocephalous Apodals with conic head, fully developed opercular apparatus, long 
and wide ethmoid, posterior maxillines, pauciserial teeth, roundish, lateral branchial 
apertures, diversiform vertical fins, pectoral fins (typically) suppressed, scaleless skin, 
restricted interbranchial slits, and very imperfect branchial skeleton, with the fourth 
branchial arch modified, strepgthened, and supporting pharyngeal jaws. 
The Morays may be readily distinguished from the other eels by their 
small round gill-openings and by the absence of pectorals. The body 
and fins are covered by a thick, leathery skin, the occipital region is 
elevated through the development of the strong muscles which move 
the lower jaw, and the jaws are usually narrow and armed with knife- 
like or else molar teeth. 
The Morays inhabit tropical and subtropical waters, being especially 
abundant in crevices about coral reefs. Many of the species reach a 
large size, and all are voracious and pugnacious. The coloration is 
usually strongly marked, the color cells being highly specialized. We 
exclude from the Murcenidce the genus Myroconger , from St. Helena, 
which has pectoral fins, and is probably a type of a distinct family. 
The remaining species are referable to ten or twelve genera, most of 
which are found in America. 
ANALYSIS OF THE AMERICAN GENERA OF MURiENID-®. 
a. Vertical fins rudimentary, confined to the end of the tail (often appreciable only 
on dissection, or altogether wanting) ; teeth rather small, pointed, 
subequal, in several series ; posterior nostril round, with a short tube 
or none. 
b. Cleft of the mouth short, not half length of head ; snout moderate, about half 
the gape; tail about as long as trunk Uropterygius, 1. 
bb. Cleft of the mouth long, nearly half head ; snout very gliort, less than one-fourth 
the gape ; tail very short, about half rest of body . . Channomur-ENa, 2. 
aa. Vertical fins well developed, the dorsal beginning before the vent. 
c. Posterior nostril an oblong slit ; anterior in a short tube ; teeth all pointed ; 
dorsal beginning above the gill-opening; canine teeth strong: tail 
moderate Enchelyxore, 3. 
cc. Posterior nostril circular, with or without tube ; tail moderate, not twice as 
long as trunk ; body not excessively elongate. 
d. Teeth all, or nearly all, acute, none of those in the jaws obtuse or molar-like. 
e . Anterior nostrils without tube ; vomerine teeth in many series : lips with 
a free fold. Pythonichthys, 4. 
ee. Anterior nostrils each with a long tube ; vomerine teeth in one or two 
series ; lips continuous with skin of head. 
/. Posterior nostrils without tube, the margin sometimes slightly raised. 
• Gymnothorax, 5. 
